The One Where I Wake Up, And I'm Alive
by niaht
Summary: An AU to the season four finale, Lucifer Rising, so major spoilers for that episode! Dean and Castiel work together to stop Sam and prevent Lucifer from breaking free. Slight Dean/Castiel.


"You were going to help me, once, weren't you? You were going to warn me about all this before they dragged you back to bible camp. Help me, now. Please."

Castiel looks away. He can't say no when he's looking Dean in the eye.

"What would you have me do?"

"Get me to Sam! We could stop this before it's too late." Dean says it like it's obvious, like as soon as he and Sam are together again nothing can go wrong.

"I do that, we'll all be hunted. We will all be killed."

"If there's anything worth dying for, this is it."

Castiel shakes his head. He can't say yes, he can't agree. Not when Zachariah and his angels will be listening to every word, every breath each of them takes. He wishes Dean understood, because nothing's worse than the betrayed look he gets when he tells him no, nothing's worse than the way he knows he's failed Dean when he's all Dean's got left.

"You spineless, soulless, son of a bitch." Dean walks away from him, shakes his head. He's disappointed; betrayed. "What do you care about dying, you're already dead. We're done."

"Dean,"

"We're done." And that's it. Castiel leaves.

***

Dean considers the burgers for a long time before he reaches for one. Sure, they look perfectly delicious, but who knows what kind of shit the angels put in there? In the end, they really just look too good, and Dean's just too hungry.

He's nearly taking the first bite, when there's a hand on his shoulder and in a second his back is pressed up against the wall with about six foot of surprisingly warm Castiel holding him there. It takes Dean a second to process what actually happened, and two to realise Castiel's hand is covering his mouth. He resists the urge to part his lips a little, to find out if Castiel's skin tastes better than the burger he nearly had.

Castiel stares intently at him, communicating without saying anything. Dean nods – he gets the message. Shut the fuck up.

Castiel draws back and only then does Dean notice the knife in the angel's hand. He mentally slaps himself. _What the fuck kind of hunter are you?_ Castiel shoves his sleeve up and drags his gaze from Dean's. Without hesitating, he cuts a long line across his forearm. Dean manages to keep his mouth shut, though he's confused as hell.

Blood starts to drip from the cut and down Castiel's arm. He tosses the bloody knife onto the table next to them and coats his fingers in blood. He raises his hand to the wall and Dean moves out of the way, watching with a certain degree of shock as Castiel starts painting symbols on the wall in his own blood. He works fast – but not quite fast enough.

"Castiel!"

They both spin around to see Zachariah on the other side of the room. Castiel quickly continues with the symbols as Zachariah stalks toward them. Dean doesn't know what the fuck he should be doing – he doesn't even know if he still has to be quiet.

"Would you mind explaining just what the hell you're doing?" Zachariah demands just as Castiel finishes the symbols, and he slams his hand into the centre of it. Zachariah cries out and the room fills with blinding white light, so much that Dean has to shield his eyes. When he opens them again, Zachariah is gone.

"He won't be gone long." Castiel says. Dean turns back to him, eyes wide. Castiel picks up the knife. "We have to find Sam, now."

"Where is he?" Dean asks.

"I don't know. But I know someone who does." Dean can almost feel Castiel's gaze burning into him, he's so intent. "We have to stop him, Dean, from killing Lilith."

Now Dean's _really_ confused. "But Lilith's going to break the final seal!"

"Lilith _is_ the final seal. She dies, the end begins."

Dean stares at him. This all just got even more complicated. "How do we stop Sam? He's not going to listen to us, and he's stronger now that he's been drinking that demon bitch's blood."

"You're going to stop him." Castiel says. "But you need to be stronger too." He looks down at his forearm, where the cut has already healed. He takes a breath and slowly cuts another line. The blood flows easily from his arm, and he holds it out to Dean.

"I can make you stronger."

Dean looks at the cut on Castiel's arm, blood dripping onto the floor and staining the carpet. "You want me to drink it?"

"Yes, Dean. It's the only way you can stop Sam. You do this, and you can stop the Apocalypse." Dean looks up, stares at Castiel. He looks back at him seriously. "You can save the world, Dean."

***

Drinking Castiel's blood is unlike anything he's done before. It doesn't taste like the thousands of times he's tasted his own blood in his mouth after a hunt. It's not unpleasant, but it's not really a taste he likes, either.

Still, he finds it hard to stop. He grips Castiel's arm and seals his lips to the wound on his arm, and the blood flows freely. Castiel gasps and his head falls back, his eyes closing.

Dean can feel the effects almost immediately. The strength, first and foremost. It comes with a feeling of confidence and safety, like he knows he can handle anything thrown his way. The more he drinks, the more aware Dean becomes of everything. He can hear every breathy moan escaping from Castiel's lips, hear both their hearts beating, and he can feel the blood rushing underneath Castiel's skin. He opens his eyes and everything is in sharp contrast.

He pulls back after forever. He straightens and looks up at Castiel. The angel's chest heaves with every breath, his face flushed. His eyes are dark when he opens them and looks at Dean.

When Castiel looks at him, everything stops. It's like they both stop breathing, the particles in the air around them stop moving, the ice in the bucket on the table stops melting. Now, more than anything, he can feel Castiel. It's probably to be expected after you do something like drink someone else's blood, but they feel connected.

Castiel steps closer to him and raises his hand to Dean's face. He slides his thumb along Dean's bottom lip, and Dean has to close his eyes against the burn from his touch. It burns, but it burns so good he almost whimpers when Castiel takes his finger away. Dean opens his eyes again and Castiel's thumb is covered in blood. He leans forward without thinking, takes Castiel's thumb into his mouth and licks off the blood. Castiel's breath catches in his throat, and Dean thinks if Ruby's blood is anything like this, he can almost see why Sam got so obsessed.

***

"This isn't supposed to happen." Chuck doesn't look pleased to see them. He stares at them for a moment and quickly goes back to the phone in his hand. "No, lady, this is definitely supposed to happen, but I just gotta call you back." He hangs up.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asks, and he sounds worried. "You're not supposed to be here. I didn't… this isn't in the story!"

"What do you know about the final seal?" Castiel asks him. Dean feels every word run through his body as Castiel says it, hears the way his tongue rolls around each one like he's singing. He's standing so close, close enough to touch.

"The final seal? The final seal is the end. That breaks, and Lucifer walks free, and we're all screwed, dude." Chuck tells him.

Dean pulls himself together, tries to shut out the way he's monitoring Castiel's breathing. "What about Sam? Have you written anything?"

"Well, yeah, not that it'll be published or anything, seeing as it ends with the end of the world." Chuck hands Dean a pile of paper. Dean flicks through it quickly.

"St Mary's, what is that? A convent?" he asks. According to the story, that's where Sam is. Along with Lilith.

"Yeah, but, you guys aren't supposed to be there. You're not in this story." Chuck tells them.

"Yeah, well. We're making it up as we go." Castiel says, and Dean looks at him in surprise.

Before he can say anything else, the screen on Chuck's computer starts to flicker. The room shakes and the lights burst, and that blindingly white light that Dean has come to associate with the angels starts to fill the room. Chuck starts yelling.

"It's the archangel!" Castiel screams at him. "I'll hold him off, I'll hold them all off. Just stop Sam!"

"No, no, Cas, wait…" Dean starts, but Castiel lays his hand on Dean's head. He closes his eyes against the burn and when he opens them, he's alone at the St Mary's convent.

"Fuck, Cas!" He mutters. He wonders if he could magic himself back there but he has no idea how. He hopes Castiel knows what he's doing.

Dean heads down the corridor on his left on instinct. He rounds a corner and sees Sam's tall figure through the doorway in front of him, Ruby by his side. Ruby turns around and sees him. She smiles, and raises her hand to the door. It slams shut.

Dean runs to it and stands a couple of feet back. He holds up his hand, palm facing the door, and closes his eyes. He concentrates on the door and that's all it takes – it flies open in front of him. Sam doesn't even notice. He's slowly advancing on Lilith, spread out in front of him. Ruby turns and Dean can see the shock and confusion in her eyes in the second before he sends her flying into the far wall. It doesn't take much to hold her there.

"I've been waiting for this for a very long time," Sam is saying to Lilith.

"Sam!"

Lilith looks at him, and Sam spins around. "Dean?"

"Sam, you need to stop." Dean says.

"Don't listen to him, Sam," Ruby says, still splayed against the wall. "He's been brainwashed by the angels. They're not on our side, they never were. Kill her, kill Lilith while you have the chance!"

"Sam, don't! You need to shut up, you little bitch." Dean says to Ruby, and all he has to do is concentrate and he's pulling the demon out of her body, burning it to ashes. As soon as Ruby is dead he releases his hold, and her body slumps to the ground.

"No!" Sam yells. He runs to Ruby's side, picks up her body and cradles her head. "Dean! What have you done? How…"

Lilith laughs, and the brothers turn to look at her. "Sam, Sam, Sam," she chuckles. "Don't act so sad. You think she'd cry over you?"

Sam's face turns stony. "Shut up. You don't know shit."

"Right, of course not. Of _course_ Ruby was on _your_ side. Of _course_ she'd turn her back on her own, just when we're about to win." Lilith snorts a laugh. "She definitely wouldn't join the enemy, and work against those that she loves. Please. I mean, she's not you."

Lilith smirks, and Sam gets up, stalks toward her. "Shut the _fuck_ up," he says, his eyes going black.

"Sam! You can't do this!" Dean runs forward and grabs hold of Sam.

"Get off me, Dean! I have to do this! Don't you realise? Lilith is going to break the final seal!" Sam yells at him, and Dean almost can't answer when he looks Sam in the eye, and all he sees is black. He grips Sam's arms tighter.

"Lilith _is_ the final seal, Sam. Killing her, that's how the seal gets broken. You do this, and it's all over."

Sam stops struggling. "What?"

"You can't kill her, Sam! _The first demon will be the last seal_. That's what it says, this is what it means! When Lilith dies, the end begins." Dean listens as Sam's breathing slows, watches as the blackness recedes from his eyes.

Sam stares at him, trying to comprehend everything. "Ruby?"

"She's a demon, Sam, she was on the demons' side. She told you to kill Lilith because she knew it was the last seal." Dean tells him, and he hopes Sam will understand. He also kind of wants to say _I told you so_ but it really isn't the best time.

"No, no, Dean. How'd you kill her?"

Dean stops. There's no easy way to say it, so he'd rather not. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later. We have bigger problems right now." He turns to look at Lilith, who has been watching them through guarded eyes the whole time.

"What can we do, if we can't kill her? We can't just leave her." Sam says.

"I know, I know. We need to send her back to hell, make sure she's locked up tight. We don't want this crazy bitch getting out any time soon." Dean decides. He glares at Lilith and she smiles back.

"You think you can lock me up, Dean? You really think you've got enough power to handle me?" She says provocatively. Dean lets go of Sam and steps closer.

"Yeah, I really do."

***

It doesn't take long for Castiel to show up. When he arrives he has a long gash on his forehead, and Dean's aching to touch him. He goes to his side and lays a hand subtly on his arm, just to feel the rush of his blood and the beat of his heart.

"You okay? What happened?"

Castiel looks at him carefully. "I'm fine. The archangel arrived and knocked me out. When I awoke, Chuck was gone."

"Gone where? Did they take him?" Dean asks.

"My guess is yes. For what reason, though, I do not know." Castiel takes in Ruby's lifeless body, and Lilith slumped against the stone with Sam standing by. "What happened here?"

Dean quickly explains everything to him. He doesn't take his hand from Castiel's arm. "We need to send her back to hell and make sure she stays there."

Turns out, Castiel knows how to go about doing that.

***

Of course, sending Lilith back down below doesn't mean they're in the clear. There are still demons – and angels – out there hell-bent on Lucifer getting out. There are still sixty-five seals that have been broken and need to be fixed, but they're going to work on that. There's still evil in the world, both supernatural and not.

But on the other hand, there's Sam, and there's Castiel, and that makes Dean feel a whole lot better.


End file.
